To all whom these presents shall come, Greetings

With the above, thus begins the form letter stapled to the front of the articles of incorporation that I recently filed with the fine state of North Carolina.

It continues:

I, Elaine F. Marshall, Secretary of State of the State of North Carolina, do hereby certify the following and hereto attached to be a true copy of

[centered and in bold]

ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION

OF

DESERT CITY INC.

[snappy, huh? I was thinking "The Desert City Inc." but I thought the "the" would get old]

[normal font and alignment]
the original of which was filed in this office on the 2nd day of November, 2005.


[right justified]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto
set my hand and affixed my official seal at the
City of Raleigh, this 2nd day of November, 2005

[end]

Woman (as opposed to "man"), I just dig this lawyer speak: "hereunto", "hereby", "hereto", "set my hand" -- that stuff is just hottt.

What else could "here" be affixed to? To what might I set my hand I hereby affix as an issue hereto fore to be resolved.

Blah, blah, blah.

So this is exciting for me, again, in a geeky sort of way. It also comes with some downsides -- I'm actually legally responsible now. I have administrative responsibilities that I didn't when I was a wild and free-wheeling arts org to be. Hmmm. My baby's all growed up. (Yes, that was a Rugrats reference.)

So the form was so easy to fill out -- I stressed about a little of it (should I check "yes" or "no" to the organization "having members"???? Turns out it isn't a question about gender; it's a question about whether you'll have a board of directors and such. See a few posts go: I checked "yes.")

So, dear deserters, this is only step one though. The next step is to go through the IRS process to get the cherry, the prize, the big kahuna: tax exempt, non-profit, 501C3 status. Oooohhhh yeeaaaaahhhhh.

The articles were easy. All I really had to do was tell them what I'd do with any assets (ha!) after the dissolution of the company. In case you were wondering, the American Red Cross is going to be getting a fattie when I shut this baby down -- hooo-haaaaah!

Feeling a little punchie twodey -- Sarah, Julian, and Scott just rocked the bejesus out of me. Invite 'em to your town -- you'll be happy you did.

The other good thing is that the dear and talented Heidi Lynn Staples nominated a poem of mine that is appearing in the soon to be shipped new issue of Parakeet, nominated said poem for a Pushcart Prize. Yee-haw!! Thanks, Heidi! Speaking of inviting people to your town, invite Heidi -- she rocks the haus. She closed out the C'bo Po' Fest this year -- smoking. Torte bear shortcake quicktake something something something.... Great stuff. Reminds me of The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow: The Rediscovered Diary of Opal Whiteley.

Anyway, still enjoying a little vacation from DCHQ -- this is actually my doppelganger I've got in the captain's seat right now.

Good boy.

Say: G'night.